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A hesitant and tentative bass line, the drums enter dry and metallic, from afar the delicate strokes of Charlie Burchill's electric guitar join in, finally everything is gathered and structured into melody by the soft sounds of Michael Mc Neil's keyboards, and Jim Kerr's singing starts off subdued and reflective (For just one moment in time / I hear the holy back beat / Events and casual affairs…). This is how "In Trance As Mission" begins, the opening track of "Sons And Fascination," the fourth chapter in the Simple Minds' history.
It's September 1981 when this album comes to light, marking significant changes for the Glasgow band: a new record company, Virgin, and a new producer, Steve Hillage. Musically, this translates into a shift towards vaguely popdance tones, after the Simple Minds' previous works had explored many of the trends popular between the late Seventies and early Eighties: from the glam and decadent rock of "Life In A Day," through the experiments straddling punk rock and electropop of "Real To Real Cacophony," to the elegant electronic hermeticism of "Empires And Dance." However, the first track of this new album, far from being a danceable piece, introduces the listener to a calm atmosphere of enchantment and wonder, with lyrics hinting at a journey taken in a state of dream, or rather trance. Thematically, even from this track, those references to America already begin that seem almost an obsession, though always just sketched, for the Minds of this period.
In the second track, "Sweat In Bullet", the rhythm section, introduced right at the start of the piece, is fully highlighted, driving and relentless. Jim Kerr's voice searches for the characteristic baritone colors that will be the unmistakable signature of every sung track by this group for a long time. In fact, sometimes Kerr will push his interpretations towards even excessive mannerisms. Only in the last album, "Black&White 050505" (but we had to wait until 2005!), did Kerr take the path of a more dry and essential singing style, relinquishing the typical drawn-out vocalisms, which had been his trademark certainly from "New Gold Dream" onward.
The third track, "70 Cities As Love Brings The Fall", also has a flamboyant pop outfit, again with the rhythm section prominently featured. The atmosphere darkens in the fourth track, "Boys From Brazil": Jim Kerr sings accompanied by the spasmodic beats of Brian McGee's drums and the counterpoint of Derek Forbes' bass. Keyboards and electric guitar are relegated here to a supporting role, passing essential and stylized behind the tribal rhythmic wall. The lyrics once again evoke real yet distant and incorporeal scenarios: for example, mentioning Brazilian boys drinking champagne on deserted beaches.
And here we are at "Love Song", undoubtedly the central track of the album, central at least in terms of its impact on the listener and the marketing that was dedicated to it (one of SM's very first videos was made from this piece). A pompous arrangement, with the synthesizer inserted in the intro, a powerful rhythm section with drums and percussion, keyboards again called to support the entire melodic structure and foreshadow movements that we will find in "New Gold Dream." The lyrics again speak of situations abstracted from reality. The title would suggest romantic themes, yet here we find reptiles, haircuts, broken fingers, someone telling lies. And again, like a mirage, the image of America reappears ("America is a boyfriend / Untouched by flesh of hand"). Certainly an impactful track, designed to capture the listener's attention, perhaps SM's first truly "commercial" piece. The next track, "This Earth That You Walk Upon" is definitely the beautiful song of this album. Again a slowdown, a new immersion in that calm with which the album began. The atmosphere created by the long note produced by the keyboards in the intro and the subtle percussion section brings once again to another world, perhaps oriental, where order reigns, the sense of speed, the vague anxiety of questions awaiting answers addressed to an interlocutor we neither see nor hear ("What's your name? / What's your Nation?"). The Earth we walk upon, protagonist of the track, is personified, she is the one who waves at your passing, turns around, then turns her back and walks away. Kerr's vocal interventions are brief and grouped into three moments. As often happens with SM tracks before New Gold Dream, a true concept of verses and refrains is missing here, which is often replaced by instrumental bridges. Here there are two: one of rare beauty and elegance played by Burchill's guitar, and the other, of great evocative power, done with the synth.
The title track is another remarkable piece of the record: once again the overwhelming force of Brian McGee's drums returns, the very prominent bass, and the keyboards that serve as a perfect counterpoint to Kerr's singing, who uses a more powerful voice than ever here. A very worthy closing of the fourth Simple Minds' opera is "Seeing Out The Angel", a calm and melancholic song, supported by the splendid keyboards of Mc Neil. It is one of those typically Simple Minds' ballads, with themes we will find in "Let It All Come Down" and even in "Dolphins" from "Black&White." "Sons And Fascination" is therefore a work to listen to and grasp in its entirety, made of a continuous alternation of primordial strength and disarming tenderness. A work that, in its remarkable artistic achievements produced through subtractive techniques, marks another step in the until then still ever-changing and therefore fascinating style of SM. And we realize we are less than a step away from what will probably remain the absolute masterpiece of this great rock band, "New Gold Dream 81-21-83-84."
Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos
01 In Trance as Mission (06:53)
For just one moment in time
I hear the holy back beat
Events and casual affairs
Just what is moving on
And what is going on
In dream a dream a
Courage of dreams
In trance as mission
Trans-American
Moving on
For just one moment in time
I want to walk where it is
Sustain a stature in life
Here comes a new type of light
Just what is going on
What is moving on
Dream a dream a
Trance as you dream
In trance as mssion
Trans-American
Just what is going on
What is moving on
For just one moment in time
Just one moment in time
Dream a dream a
Courage of dreams
In trance as mission
Trans-American
Something crashing into my life
Something crashing against white rocks
No calm to my hand
Here comes my hand
City up on my mind
What is going on
You've got to move on
Dream a dream a
Courage of dreams
In trance as mission
Trans-American
Living lives out of dust
Dream a dream a
Living lives
Walk on in light
I want to walk
My hands are grabbing at air
I want to walk
Dream a dream a
Courage of dreams
In trance as mission
In trance in trance
Trans-American
Stand by the statue in fog
Events and casual affairs
I want to walk
Heat of the day
Heat of the day....
Lyrics : J Kerr Music : Simple Minds (C) EMI Publishing Ltd Reproduced without permission
02 Sweat in Bullet (04:31)
Airmobility
Dressability
Tranquil
You'll never meet again
Eyes small
Take another fine walk
Expose
Society can gain
Great face
White soul
Great place
Then say goodbye
You take a walk
Another fine walk
Mission
Motion
Rolling and tumbling
Ambition in motion
Rolloing and tumbling
She's sweating bullets
Grow in size
Grow in fame
Grow more
Take more
Uncontrollable
Unworkable
Airmobility
Dressability
Tranquil
You'll never meet again
Eyes small
Take another fine walk
Expose
Society can gain
Great face
White soul
Great place
Then say goodbye
You take a walk
Another fine walk
Mission
Motion
Rolling and tumbling
Ambition in motion
Rolloing and tumbling
She's sweating bullets
Grow in size
Grow in fame
Grow more
Take more
Uncontrollable
Unworkable
Airmobility
Dressability
C'est la vie
Inside
Your doing things
Making face
Making moves
You'll never do again
Great face
White soul
Great shame
Poison in your hand
Take a walk
Take another fine walk
Mission
Motion
Rolling and tumbling...
Lyrics : J Kerr Music : Simple Minds (C) EMI Publishing Ltd Reproduced without permission
04 Boys From Brazil (05:30)
Boys From Brazil
Champagne
Desert Shore
Celebrate
Memorize
Associate lips with the poor
Eyes of the world on you
Boys From Brazil
Champagne
Desert Shore
What can you say
About anything lost now
What can you say
About stolen things too
Anything Stolen
Something is lost now
What can you say
And how fast can things move
Boys from Brazil
Fortune of bird in flight
Tycoons and whirlwind
Brings a hush on lover's voice
Eyes of the world on you
Boys from Brazil
Champagne
Desert shore
Babies cannot manage
Lust and Ambition
Babies only speak and ingenious talk
Badies don't remember
Chance or up in shame
Badies cannot manage crocodiles
Boys from Brazil
Gentleman and adventure
Killing Hearts and gentle life
Spending money in capitals
Eyes of the world on you
Not just the boy that's crying wolf now
Someone else is screaming up at our door
Not just a body that's crying wolf now
Eyes of the world on you
Taking tracks back
Slip a while back
In forward moves
Boys taking tracks back
Slip a while
Forward moves forward moves
Slip a while
Lyrics : J Kerr Music : Simple Minds (C) EMI Publishing Ltd Reproduced without permission
07 Sons and Fascination (05:23)
Summer rains are here
Savaged beauty life
Falling here from grace
Sister feeling call
Cruising land to land
No faith no creed no soul
Half a world away
Beauty sleeps in time
Sound and fury play
Ma son warm land semi-monde
Ma son warm land semi-monde
Cry because you're young
Governments and gifts
Hearts are in our mouths
Thank you for the voice
Thank you for the eyes
Thank you for the good times
Golden guns and cars
Styles and motorcades
In screaming beauty days
Ma son warm land semi-monde
Ma son warm land semi-monde
Only winds that twist
When white money calls
Falling here from grace
White-eye movement trust
Parades are leaving town
When boys of Venice call
In all stations trust
In all stations soul
Sons and fascination
Ma son warm lands semi-monde
Ma son warm lands semi-monde
Lyrics : J Kerr Music : Simple Minds (C) EMI Publishing Ltd Reproduced without permission
08 Seeing Out the Angel (06:11)
Voice leading to voices
Last song that the land sings
In colourful breathless emotional sea
Leaving us in this way
Seeing out the angel
From the shadow of a day
That stands alone and crying young
Singing fascination
For the twist in anxious days
That stand alone and crying young
See out the angels
For the rescue pools of life
That stand alone and crying young
Rescue by the first light
Receiving us with these tears
Feeling your gaze in the back of my eyes
Leaving worlds this way
In voice leading to voices
Last song that the land sings
In colourful breathless emotional sea
Leaving us this way
Seeing out the angels
Singing fascination...
Lyrics : J Kerr Music : Simple Minds (C) EMI Publishing Ltd Reproduced without permission
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